On 24 September, at the United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum – Asia Pacific (RBHR), LRQA took the stage, co-hosting an impactful panel discussion on “Worker Grievance Mechanisms and Access to Remedy in Asia.” The forum, held in Bangkok, brought together stakeholders from various sectors, including private enterprises, civil society, and government, all focused on addressing business and human rights challenges in the APAC region.
The session, on co-organized with Change Alliance India, featured prominent participants such as FGV Holdings Berhad and the PHIA Foundation. Discussions revolved around the critical issue of workers’ access to grievance mechanisms and the urgent need to implement UNGP-aligned (United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights) solutions to remedy violations within global supply chains.
During the session, our experts Savitri Restrepo Alvarez - Associate Director, Advisory APAC and Nawin Santikarn - Senior Consultant at LRQA explored innovative models for implementing worker-centric grievance mechanisms aligned with the UN Guiding Principles (UNGP) on Business and Human Rights. LRQA shared valuable insights and key lessons from its experience managing worker grievance mechanisms in the garment and agricultural sectors across Asia. The discussion focused specifically on LRQA’s programs in the garment industries of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, as well as the palm oil sectors in Malaysia and Indonesia.
As a global leader in worker-centric grievance mechanisms, LRQA operates in accordance with international standards such as the UNGPs and Human Rights Due Diligence (HREDD) legislation. Our scalable solutions range from single-site operations to entire sectors and regions, providing companies and suppliers with essential tools to uncover sensitive, hard-to-detect issues. LRQA’s mechanisms offer supply chain workers a transparent, independent, and secure channel to report concerns related to health, safety, social/labour conditions, and environmental matters, accessible anytime and anywhere.
